The Turnabout Republic
by Charon the Sabercat
Summary: Sequel to "The Earth King Has Invited You to Labyrinthia". Well, more of a midquel, as it covers what Edgeworth, Gumshoe, and Ascot got up to in Republic City while Layton and Wright adventured below.
1. Chapter 1

The Turnabout Republic

Author's Notes: Own nothing, all the usual stuff. This got written because people kept asking for it! Comments are powerful! They'll force me to write more!

* * *

Edgeworth hit a pot hole. A pot hole, on top of everything else he had been dealing with since yesterday, and he hit it in a rental car. It was bad enough when Wright missed his daily call yesterday, and worse when this morning's inquiries to the port confirmed that he and his assistant weren't even aboard the ship. He went through all the trouble to obtain a warrant, pack, wrangle Gumshoe out of his normal work hours, make_ him_ pack, and then drive all the way to the airport during rush hour for the quickest flight to Republic City, then rent a car, then interview witnesses at the docks who gave him no other lead than one little bridge in a shoddy neighborhood in Republic City's cheapest district, and on top of all of that, he was going to get a flat in his rental car from a pot hole!

His little mental tirade had already exhausted itself by the time he hit the second pothole. He sighed and mentally wrote all of it off, even the sound of Gumshoe's forehead making hard contact with the passenger window. If nothing else, it meant Gumshoe was awake now after having slept most of the flight over.

"Ow." Gumshoe rubbed at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "We at the bridge yet?"

"No, the route I was given was blocked by a train," he explained. "I went another way."

"How soon until we get there?"

"If my mental map of the city is still accurate, we're fairly close. Stay-"

The narrow street split open to a scorched broadway.

Edgeworth whipped the car onto the curb and parked. "Alert."

This street connected directly to the bridge to the west, Edgeworth could faintly remember. The witnesses corroborated as much. None of them said anything about the stretch of road leading to it looking like a blasted heath. The air still reeked of melted asphalt and scorched metal. Ground-level windows lay blackened with soot in their frames. Edgeworth had to fight the urge to cover his nose. Gumshoe had no such restrictions and hurriedly pulled his shirt up over his face.

"Holy cheese dip!" Gumshoe roared out from behind his shirt collar. "What a reek!"

Edgeworth had to work his self control not to wince. "Uncover your face, Gumshoe. You're showing an unnecessary amount of body hair."

"Aw, jeeze!" Gumshoe hurriedly tucked his shirt back in, flushed pink. "You don't gotta point it out like that, sir!"

"Show a little discipline and search with your eyes, not your nose." Edgeworth tapped his finger to his temple and gave the detective a little smirk. "We can paint a picture of what happened here with these burn marks."

Gumshoe winced. "You don't think all this has somethin' to do with Mr. Wright, do you?"

His little screen had no effect. Usually Gumshoe could be charmed out of his stress by a little flex of brain power and logic, which served well to lower his own anxiety, but the situation was dire enough to override that old formula. Edgeworth couldn't find it within himself to blame Gumshoe. When their only lead to find their missing comrades began with fire enough to melt concrete, it only seemed fair to let the mood stay serious.

"Right." He should have picked a better word. His smile fell. "No sense jumping to conclusions without due evidence. Let us make our way to the bridge and see the scene ourselves."

Edgeworth stepped out into the street. From the sidewalk, everything looked like an equally firebombed mess. From the middle, however, he could suss out a distinct path. The burns in the road radiated out from this center line, which seemed to indicate a singular source on the move. It wove slightly at first, then straightened out the farther he walked. Heavy dark patches at the initial point of contact, with heavy scorching in the surrounding windows, told him which direction the assailant moved in. It also told him they were looking for a firebender. A mechanical device, like a flamethrower, would spray consistently. Only a firebender, keeping a steady stride, would pull their hands in and thrust them back out again, making the concentrated black burns in the road.

He walked that trail, Gumshoe at his heels, and spoke his thoughts aloud. "We're looking for a fairly tall firebender. Very well trained..." He caught a trace of a slim boot heel print in the road. It was pressed into the concrete, unlike the other prints above it which only printed into the soot. "Probably female."

Gumshoe's voice was close and heavy, at his back like a shield. "Just the one?"

"Hmm..." Edgeworth narrowed his focus. If he hit the light at the right angle, he could make out a faint pattern in the softened concrete. It seemed to be a wheel… One wheel at a time, but several of them, going in the same direction but swerving in and out of each other's paths. It boggled his mind. What on earth had single wheels and held up to running at these extreme temperatures? Or perhaps they didn't hold up: Edgeworth began to spot tiny bits of metal debris along the road. Blackened on one side, clean on the other, they were uniformly shredded and ragged and scattered.

"We're coming up on the bridge now," Gumshoe announced, mindful of Edgeworth's downcast eyes.

It did not bode terribly well. Edgeworth lifted his head to properly survey the bridge and found it unsettlingly black. The chase had ended here, with the fire marks quickly coalescing on a singular point before a shattered concrete guard rail.

Supposedly, whoever had been on the receiving end of those flames had been thrown onto the ship with Wright.

Gumshoe worried at his tie. "This don't look good at all, Mr. Edgeworth."

"Calm yourself, Gumshoe. There's nothing tying this to Wright as of yet. All we have evidence for is one active firebender."

"Incorrect, sir!"

The voice was new, and alarmingly close. Considering the bridge- no, the entire neighborhood- had been completely empty before, it was enough to make Gumshoe yelp and Edgeworth choke on his tongue. Whipping around on his heel, he had to scan for the source of the noise.

It was a man lounging on top of the barricade with his feet kicked up. Ankles crossed, arms folded, he showed no signs of being uncomfortable against the hard concrete. He dressed well for the neighborhood, too. His magenta vest played well off of a white undershirt and red ascot, and his slacks and shoes were both sensibly colored and clean. It was his face that put Edgeworth on his guard; no one who could appear without a sound onto a crime scene should have a smile that knowing and… dare he say it? Playful.

"Yikes!" Gumshoe, while graceless with his words, was much more concise in his summary of the situation. He puffed up angrily. "What's the big idea, pal? We're investigating here!"

The red-haired man jumped to his feet like a fire had sparked in his heart. "What a lovely coincidence! So am I! Randall Ascot, pleasure to meet both of you gentlemen!"

Edgeworth said, "How-"

"Now, about your earlier observation!" Ascot cut him off with a tight wave of his index finger. He was left-handed, Edgeworth noted. "It takes a trained eye to observe, but this isn't the work of a single assailant, but a production team!"

"A-"

"Ah, but I get ahead of myself!" Ascot grabbed one of Edgeworth's hands and gave it one fine shake without letting go. "Forgive my lack of identification, but I myself am looking for a friend of mine. As fellow sleuths 'working the beat', as they say, I was wondering if perhaps we could swap notes on-"

Edgeworth yanked his hand free. "Are you with the Republic City Police?"

Ascot, unbothered, straightened his ascot- oh lord was it a pseudonym?- with his excess of energy. "No, sir!"

"Are you with any police?"

"No!"

"Are you a private investigator?"

Finally, his overbearing smile started to falter. "No, but-"

"Then if you wouldn't mind?" Edgeworth crossed his arms tight. "We're here under Fire Nation jurisdiction, and as far as I'm concerned, you're the only suspect on the scene of a disappearance."

The colder, crueler part of himself took a little pleasure at Ascot's chipper demeanor shattering like burned concrete. He sucked in a ragged breath and clutched at the rag about his neck, the whites of his eyes blazing bright against dark skin.

"What do you mean 'disappearance'? Who are you looking for?"

Now Edgeworth could smirk. "I believe that is for use to-"

"Is it Professor Hershel Layton?"

The name sounded familiar, in a far-off way. Edgeworth might have read it in a newspaper before. "It is none of your-"

"Please! It cannot be a coincidence!" Ascot's tone took on a note of fervor. "I know it must sound mad, but my dear friend Hershel and his war have both gone missing overnight! The police tell me nothing, I can't find a single person who's seen him, and all I have to look into is some mysterious incident that went down on this bridge! You have to help me! Their lives could be in danger!"

It couldn't be.

Edgeworth snapped to attention, opening his mind to every scrap of knowledge Ascot could throw his way. The interrogation began. "Who is missing? Exactly, as much as you can tell me."

Ascot tightened his focus and responded in kind, every bit as serious as he. "Professor Hershel Layton, of Zaofu University, archaeology department, 35. Luke Triton is an eleven year old boy he has guardianship of."

"When did you last speak?"

"Hershel spoke with his mother and father before leaving Zaofu yesterday, 6 p.m. He told them he would call after checking into his hotel. He never arrived."

"And you?"

"His parents contacted me to search for him when the police told them to drop the case."

Gumshoe, quietly listening from the sidelines, swallowed thickly. "That's eerie."

Ascot's eyes snapped to Gumshoe, and his attention flipped the other way. His shoulders set as he focused back to Edgeworth. "Yours?"

"A Mr. Phoenix Wright, 25, and one Maya Fey, 17," Edgeworth listed off. "Capital City, Fire Nation defense attorney and assistant on business leave. Boarded a passenger ship, never disembarked. Witnesses state they had discourse with a person who'd been thrown off this bridge."

Ascot gasped. "A man?"

"By all accounts, a teenage girl. You?"

"Hershel left an address for where he was going before the hotel. It's just down the street, to the east."

"So why are you here?" Shaken from his fugue by his own question, Edgeworth reconsidered his phrasing. "At this bridge, specifically."

"Because I couldn't ignore the evidence! I came in from the west, saw all this, and started snooping around." Ascot stepped backwards and hopped up to stand on the barricade. "You saw the shrapnel in the street, yes?"

Gumshoe bellowed "Yeah!" while Edgeworth nodded.

"Those aren't just any metal scraps! Those are what's left over from explosive charges."

The idea struck him silent. Explosive charges? Perhaps the blast patterns were not so random after all. Concentrated burn patches with follow through could possibly be caused by a firebender igniting the charges from a distance. He voiced his next thought aloud: "But to what end?"

"Seems like they just wanted somebody blown up," ventured Gumshoe.

Ascot shook his head. "Misdirection. I'll wager a good sum that neither of you noticed that all the alleyways leading up to the bridge- and a little ways past it- were blocked with walls of boxes. No one would, unless they were looking to go down those streets: for instance, if they were being pursued. It would only take a quick glance to see them and decide not to go that way. It's stagecraft, naturally directing the eye to where the magician wants one to look."

It sent a jolt through the both of them. He could vaguely thin, yes, he had passed alleys and, yes, there had been boxes, but he never would have paid special attention to them… But now Ascot was telling him that had been the whole point.

Ascot raised his finger to enunciate. "And finally, this!"

And he stepped backwards off the bridge.

It had been years since Edgeworth last felt his heart leap like it had in that instant. He and Gumshoe both screamed and nearly threw themselves over the barricade to catch Ascot before he hit the water thirty feet below. Instead, as Edgeworth's vision reached over the edge, it met the sight of Ascot's wild red hair. He had barely gone over: his feet rested steady on thick nylon ropes attached to clean anchor points in the bridge's moss-covered understructure. They were new, clean, and freshly installed.

A corner of his mind chimed in, _So that's how he snuck up behind us._

The rest of his mind, and his mouth, screamed, "What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?!"

"But my point is made, isn't it?" Ascot dropped from his feet onto his rear so he could hammock himself in the sturdy rigging. "We're looking for a team of production assistants and one firebender with an air of theatricality."

"What is this 'we'? Gumshoe, for goodness sake, get him back to solid ground!"

Gumshoe's massive frame had much longer arms than his. The detective could reach right over the barricade and hoist Ascot back onto the street with them. Ascot, for the fright he just put them through, was back to smiling like the cat who got the canary. Perhaps, Edgeworth suspected, he was projecting that bit about theatricality.

"Of course it's 'we'! This has gone from just two missing people to a whole case!"

Gumshoe didn't let go of Ascot's arm. Something in the crook of his eyebrows told Edgeworth that he didn't trust Ascot not to bridge dive again. "I'm starting to wonder if _you're_ a whole case, pal."

"We must pull our heads together if we're to crack this puzzle!" Ascot held out a hand to Gumshoe. "Please, my good fellow, I don't have your name yet."

And much like a dog, all of Gumshoe's suspicion fell away at the first sign of civility. Gumshoe gave Ascot an enthusiastic handshake that wagged the man's whole shoulder. Ascot was already slight and short, and Gumshoe was already a human mountain, so the effect was pronounced. "Detective Dick Gumshoe, Capital City P.D.!"

Edgeworth sighed. "Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, Capital City Department of Justice."

He re-introduced himself, properly this time. "Randall Ascot, archaeologist and gentleman. What a trio we make, eh? On the prowl for our missing loved ones! It will make a glorious story once we find Herself and- what was yours? Phoenix Wright?"

"Correct." Edgeworth promised himself to find Wright as quickly as possible so they could go home and forget this whole mess ever happened.

"Then this should help us next!" Ascot reached into his vest and pulled out a tiny memo pad, bookmarked. "Hershel left us one thread to grasp, at least. We're looking for an apartment belonging to a Detective Carmine Accidente. I'm glad I found you before I found his house; detective to detective, Mr. Gumshoe could probably pry more out of him than me."

"You can join us in the car," warned Edgeworth, "If you promise not to talk. We will ask the good detective a few questions, not pry him for information… More than is necessary, of course. Now come along, we've talked enough here as it is."

Edgeworth dared to think, as Ascot silently followed them back to the car and took to the back seat, that this might go well. He grinned at him from the back seat through the rear view mirror, keeping to his word. Yes, this would indeed go well. They had a solid lead now.

His heart plummeted as they pulled into the street, their lead left an immolated husk on the curb.


	2. Chapter 2

In the colder, crueler part of his mind, Edgeworth was angry with himself for not checking out the street in the opposite direction. This broken brownstone was the obvious starting point for this serious crime. If he had gone the other way from the beginning, he might have gotten there before the police.

Because egad, he had never been so ashamed by the work of the police in his entire life, and he had worked with Gumshoe for nearly a decade now. The officers were cleaning out the crime scene behind the police tape! Stomping all over the grounds with great mismatched gumby boots and push brooms, bending down the walls, even wiping down furniture with rags! Great heaping piles of rubble were being trucked away in wheelbarrows! Edgeworth wanted to scream.

Gumshoe, obligingly, did it for him. "H-hey! Hey! That's a crime scene, pal! Stop washing it!"

About the only one not actively tidying up, a mustached man in a tan coat, piped up from a nearby squad car. "Finally, somebody who makes a lick of sense around this insane asylum!"

Edgeworth honed in on that voice. The man looked official, as did the smaller uniformed officer at his side. Ascot and Gumshoe fell in behind him as he cut a fast path to the squad car. "You, sir! Would it be all right if I asked you a few questions?!"

"I wish you would!" he said. "I feel there's a good lacking of question-asking today."

This was good. He sounded receptive, and frustrated. He would probably just blather out everything they needed to know, along with a fair bit that they didn't, once he got him talking. It was time for formalities, and quickly. "I am Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, of Capital City D.o.J. This is Detective Dick Gumshoe."

"And Mr. Randall Ascot!" interjected the annoying man. "Of Monte d'Or!"

Edgeworth cut back in. "Unaffiliated."

The mustached man straightened up his collar. "Inspector Chelmey, Republic City P.D. This is Police Constable Barton. Er, affiliated."

The smaller man tipped his hat. "At your service, much as we can, gents."

"Much as you can?" Gumshoe parroted. "What do you mean?"

"He means you better be here with written warrants and paper like you wouldn't believe," said Chelmey. "And if the supervisor were here, I could get in a load of trouble for saying _that_ much!"

Ascot fluffed his collar. "Hmm. Perhaps I should wait at the car..."

"Yes, I believe you had." Maybe Ascot wouldn't be as much of a drain as he thought. "We'll let you know what you're allowed to."

"Right!" Ascot dipped away. "Ta!"

"You under an N.D.A.?" asked Gumshoe. "When we did the paperwork on our end, we didn't find anything like that."

Chelmey ducked his head. "More like a very watchful eye..."

A few of the officers on duty scattered at the sound of approaching footsteps. A woman stepped out of the remaining building, clad in the fine metal armor of the elite metalbending police force. Her eyes passed over the crime scene, stilling all movement, before she cut a fast path to Edgeworth and Gumshoe. She carried herself almost exactly like his sister Franziska: overconfident, angry, and young.

Straight to the point, she asked. "Who are you?"

Here he went again. "Miles Edgeworth, Chief Prosecutor, Capital City D.o.J."

"Do you have any proof of this?"

He began to reach for his pocket. "A badge and-"

"What is your authorization to be here?"

He paused. Perhaps he didn't want this woman handling his badge. His arms crossed instead. "I have a warrant to look into the disappearance of a Mr. Phoenix Wright."

"Let me see it."

Admittedly, he had walked himself into that. Edgeworth straightened his up shoulders, Gumshoe quietly ducking behind him in a not-so-subtle act of hiding. Whoever this woman was, her guard was up so clearly he could almost see the walls around her.

Or rather, the chess pieces.

It would be tricky, trying to suss out her motivations without a clear picture of her goal in his mind. But he could play defensive chess if need be, and stalling was just as legitimate a tactic as a full-on assault. Steeling his mind, he approached the situation as logically as he could. "If I may ask your name and authorization first, miss."

She left no room for interjections as she spoke. She retrieved and flashed her badge and identification card with precision speed. The only thing Edgeworth noted at first was that it had a strong chemical reek, but the words seemed to check out. "Eve Belduke, Special Forces. Access to this area is restricted, and under my direct and absolute authority. Civilians found near the scene are subject to questioning or arrest on suspicion of collusion and obstruction of justice."

Behind him, Gumshoe was pulling a face. He knew it. He could feel it. For all of her forceful voice and posture, what she was actually saying didn't amount to anything. Special Forces of what? Which department? "Direct and absolute authority," who spoke like that? Edgeworth watched her little tirade with the same cool detachment he used for crying babies on airplanes.

"Special Forces, then. That is quite a title to receive at your age." It was perhaps demeaning, considering his own family's record, but he had a point to raise. His pawn was in place. "Certainly the highest honor an officer of the law can achieve… but you do not outrank the prosecution's office, surely?"

A strike to her guard. She showed little, but the tightening of her eyes proved his strike had landed.

"Nonetheless..." she recovered quickly. "Your presence here is unnecessary, and under my authority, I would ask you to leave."

She was perhaps slightly more agitated than normal, but she had started this whole conversation at a high point already. Edgeworth let her speak.

"There has been no foul play at this scene," she offered freely. "The investigation is over. You'd do well to leave."

"No foul play, you say..." Another pawn advanced. "So you're saying no crime was committed here."

"Correct," said Belduke. He hadn't hit on anything new; her face was placid and stony. "We're simply cleaning up the mess."

"Here, at this house," Edgeworth advanced. "And not the entire street's burn marks and trail leading all the way to it?"

He had planned on cracking her guard by pointing out the tire tracks he had noted earlier, as proof that her crew had been cleaning the entire street at the time of the crime.

The hairs on the back of his neck started to stand.

His gaze went past Miss Belduke and into the officers around her. Everyone had stopped in their places to glare at him. The total cessation of movement and sound left Belduke's voice as the sole source of energy in the entire street, and like a magnifying glass in the sun, it was all focused on burning him down. It affected him more than he wanted to admit. His human instinct was screaming at him to silence himself. He and Gumshoe were in a corner, surrounded by authority with hostility, without a witness on their side. Only years of training kept him from flinching, and even then, his hands seemed loathe to leave the safe crossed lock of his arms.

"You've asked enough questions for a foreign agent with no jurisdiction and one assisting officer," said Belduke. "Now… let me see your papers."

"No need." Edgeworth straightened up. "The severity of this case has made itself very clear. My associate and I will see ourselves off the premises."

"See that you do quickly," said Belduke. "I cannot afford to have my attention wasted by guard duty. Chelmey! Escort them off the scene, like you should have done when they arrived."

Chelmey jumped like he'd been electrocuted. "Er, uh, this way, gents." He gestured towards a side street once Belduke turned her back. "Back to your car."

Edgeworth huffed. "That car is in the other-"

Gumshoe's hand came down heavy on his shoulder. "Hey now. Don't get all turned around in this neighborhood."

"Ah." He understood. "Yes, how foolish of me. The locals would know better. Please, escort us."

Chelmey and Barton lead them away to a side street, all the while quivering in anticipation. They of course went well in the opposite direction of the rental car- or at least an oddly tangential route- and Barton checked over his shoulder a good three or four times before anyone dared speak.

Finally, with a happy little wiggle of his mustache, Barton spoke. "We weren't followed, sir."

Chelmey whipped about and commenced to blather. "Let me tell you, I have never seen so many amateurs given this much power in my entire life! Five minutes of investigating followed by three hours of the police- the officers in uniform!- cleaning the crime scene! Cleaning! While my orders are just to stand around and 'look official'! What kind of procedure is that?!"

Edgeworth laid out his first suspicion. "Orders from Belduke?"

"From my own Commissioner!" Chelmey corrected. "Said it would be well worth my trouble for the simple assignment, but a man has dignity, you know!"

Gumshoe made a low noise of realization. "So somebody paid for this whole setup, huh?"

Barton piped up. "And we don't even know who!"

"Barton, if you please!" Chelmey admonished. "This whole thing's shady enough without you giving away all my secrets!"

Even after spilling so many yourself, thought Edgeworth. Some things were universal, he supposed. He kept on. "For such a massive fire being swept under the rug by a mysterious benefactor, you seem relatively unbothered."

"Shady dealin's is shady dealin's," said Chelmey, "But what little I saw confirmed it: nobody was harmed at the scene. Just a big empty building blowin' up."

Ascot, damn him, whipped out from behind a crate with a little twirl. "A slight correction there, my good officer, on two counts! One: we do indeed know the name of our shady benefactor, potentially."

Edgeworth's teeth clenched. "I thought you were waiting at the car."

"I lied. Here!" His knuckles rapped the crate… specifically, the logo pressed into the crate. No name under the sigil, but it was distinctive enough. Now that his attention was drawn to it, many alleys they had walked down had crates with that logo pressed onto them. "Whosoever registered this as a trademark is most likely the funder of the cleanup crew."

"I have been seein' that a lot lately!" Barton exclaimed.

"Of course you have! They're the crates that have been blocking the alleys. And, 'no one on the scene was harmed'!" Ascot's little memo pad appeared in his hand with a snap of his fingers. "But someone at the scene was indeed hurt."

"Cor!" shouted Chelmey. "What do you mean?!"

Edgeworth huffed. "And how do you know?"

"I asked!" Ascot opened the memo pad to a page with a few quickly scrawled numbers and an address, with the other page covered in shorthand. "Go straight to the police for information, pfft. Never underestimate the eyes of old retired women. All the neighbors knew about the ambulance that left the scene at near-midnight!"

"An ambulance?!" Edgeworth gasped and stepped closer to read the address. "So that means-"

"We have a name," said Ascot. "And the hospital where he's recovering."

Barton checked his watch. "Sir, we've been out for a little while..."

"Right! Back to your car with you!" said Chelmey. "And for spirit's sake, give me a phone number! I'll give you mine: you keep on investigating, and tell me when you've found out what's really happened here!"

"You'll be at the top of the list," said Edgeworth. "Gumshoe, Ascot, back to the car."

Asking the neighbors… it seemed so simple. Ascot was proving his worth again, not to mention outpacing him on the mad sprint back to the rental car. Edgeworth liked to think he kept his cool for cases such as this, but the simple search for truth had now become a chase, and one with dogs close on their heels. It burned like a little iron ball in his stomach, made him run that little faster, made his eyes focus sharper than before. Were Wright not in dire circumstances potentially, it could almost be… a little fun? Ascot and Gumshoe beat him to the parking space.

Their rental car's tires were slashed.


	3. Chapter 3

Accidenti hadn't had a single visitor since his admittance. Ascot hissed as soon as his eyes fell on Accidenti's bandaged and burned body. "Oh, the poor fool… I almost feel bad he's a live under all that wrapping. Can you imagine the pain?"

Edgeworth crossed his arms and fought the urge to huff. "Can you imagine the morphine?"

Gumshoe made a pained noise from his gut. "I don't wanna imagine the morphine. He's gotta be under pretty hard if this is what he looks like now."

Gumshoe was always right about the most down to earth things. Healers could do so much, but only what the body could handle. The energy to heal wounds had to come from somewhere, and if a body had none to give, then trying to pull it did more harm than good. Edgeworth gave Accidenti a quick look-over. The hospital looked to have concentrated on his face, and likely his trachea, as he seemed to be breathing unassisted. The thought made Edgeworth shudder. A lungful of water, even healing water, never felt like anything but certain death.

"You okay, Mr. Edgeworth? I can feel your heart pounding through my shoes."

He was spared having to excuse- or explain- himself by Ascot jamming his way into the conversation. "Gumshoe! You're seismically trained?"

It made the detective beam with pride. "Yep! I'm the highest-rated seismic sense-r in Capital City! At least, the highest I can be without being a metalbender."

Ascot shared a sympathetic-sounding click of his teeth. "That must be awful."

Edgeworth was ready to interject, but it was too late. Gumshoes was already crestfallen. "Oh, hospitals are the worst. You get used to feelin' every heartbeat around, but in hospitals they're always flutterin' and startin' and stoppin' and sometimes you walk by one and you just feel it go all still..."

Ascot's face went appropriately horrified, and Edgeworth felt a bit of satisfaction in that. Wherever the annoying man had intended to take that train of thought, it stopped cold at Gumshoe's admission.

He also considered to himself to send other, non-earthbender officers to interview the hospitalized from now on.

They were getting distracted. Accidenti was starting to stir at the sound of their voices. Edgeworth motioned to Ascot to sit in a nearby chair while he and Gumshoe took to the victim's bedside.

Again, he found himself bemoaning leaving his business cards at home. "I am Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth of Capital City, Fire Nation. This is my associate, Detective Dick Gumshoe."

"Really, Edgeworth?" said Ascot. "He doesn't even get a 'hello'?"

"This is the local representative of the common man, not involved in law enforcement, Mr. Randall Ascot."

Ascot scoffed and fell back in his chair, 'wounded'. "The common man, he calls me!"

Accidenti stared at them with half-lidded, concussed eyes. Perhaps he should slow down.

"Can you please tell me your name and occupation?"

At that, an unfavorable response: Accidenti tensed up and clenched his bound fingers, crinkling the metal frame of the bed near his hands. He sucked in a sharp breath. "The shades!"

"No, no! Please, sir, calm yourself!" Edgeworth tried very hard not to raise his voice. "We're with the police! We're here to help you!"

"The police?" Accidenti gasped. "The police- eight-two-nine-one-three-one-three."

Now Gumshoe gasped. "Hey! That's an I.D. code! 'Eight-two-nine' is the Republic City district. Bei Fong Metalbending Academy, and a detective, too!"

"You can be trusted..." Accidenti hissed. "But the shades! They pursue us! Check the windows!"

Edgeworth did. "You're safe. They're mini-blinds, not shades."

"They are all blind, under the tower!" Accidenti's eyes focused just a bit better, but never lost that slightly manic look due to his mis-matched pupils. "Once you go through the rock and into the flowers, they have you! They had Espella, but not me!"

Ascot had quietly leaned away in his chair. He was now nearly tipping over the armrest. "Er..."

Edgeworth folded his arms. "Gumshoe, we'll need to interrogate properly."

Things all happened very swiftly. Gumshoe hooked the heel of his shoe under the toe of the other and slipped it off, all in the same smooth motion. He gently took one of Accidenti's bandaged hands in his. Ascot's eyes scanned over the act, and within an instant, he had taken out his memo pad and was writing in shorthand. Edgeworth steeled himself in Accidenti's immediate attention. The subtle straightening of his shoulders and the shift of weight at his feet kept the focus away from his associates as they slid out of his sight. All he had to do was weather Accidenti's mad ramblings and keep them going until they turned into something useful.

"The flowers, you say?"

"It is not just the flowers!" cried Accidenti. "There are drugs, untold drugs! They circulate in the air and the water, to make people blind! I know it's in the air- I've had no sleep, no food, no water for days, but the black shapes still disappear unless I use the corners of my eyes! But Layton!"

Ascot gasped.

"Layton can see! Layton can speak to the books I can only read. He can touch the machines to the inside!"

"He shouldn't do that," mumbled Gumshoe. "He'll pinch his fingers."

"That is what everyone told me about Espella, but Espella is the pin that holds it all together! She was the beginning, and she must be the end! She knows the way- before the tunnels twist, bring her back through! They books- everything- everything is in the books! Please, you must believe me..."

He stopped for a sharp breath, then swallowed, then took another. His next words came out as only a thick-tongued mess of syllables before he had to breathe again. Adrenaline wore off, and morphine took its place. Carmine Accidenti dropped back onto his pillow, faintly gestured to the 'nurse' button, and fell back into unconsciousness. The three of them watched with bated breath the slow, even rise and fall of Accidenti's belly.

He was still alive. Edgeworth released all his tension in a pained breath and hit the call button. The three men regrouped while the nurse attended.

"How much of it was the truth?" asked Edgeworth.

"Every bit," said Gumshoe incredulously. "I mean, he believed every bit, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it."

"Ascot, your take."

Ascot rifled through his notes. "Nothing lines up with anything I've noted thus far. There's some kind of through line running with the books, but without him awake to give us a baseline, I could put us on a false lead."

Gumshoe whispered low. "The whole guy's a false lead though! His head's all scrambled."

"A scrambled egg is still an egg, my good Gumshoe. It's simply harder to pick out the component parts."

"Your analogy is flawed," said Edgeworth. "One cannot unscramble an egg."

"Perhaps he's only a cracked egg, then."

Gumshoe mused, "Accidenti Dumpty", just as the nurse left, throwing all of them a look before shutting the door. "Woops."

Ascot left his place in the huddle, so Edgeworth took the opportunity to plot with Gumshoe. "Our warrant doesn't clear us to look up Accidenti's background, does it?"

"Definitely not," said Gumshoe.

Ascot let out a hearty "A-ha!" at the same time at the distinct sound of trousers and a belt hitting the floor.

A lot of images passed through Edgeworth's mind. Some of them were more absurd than others, and some he had every intention of leaving the room before there was a chance he might possibly see it. Whatever he saw, he could expect he wasn't going to like it.

Except he didn't expect to turn and find Ascot dumping out Accidenti's possessions onto the sheets of his hospital bed. It flew past embarrassment and crashed headlong into absolute mortification. Every syllable of admonishment tried to rush out at the same time and morphed into a muddled "Nygoooh!"

Ascot casually dropped Accidenti's pants and jacket onto an empty chair. "Always the complaints with you, Edgeworth."

"Fingerprints!" he forced out. "Evidence! Warrant?!"

Ascot casually picked up something- it looked like a hip flask- and bounced it in his palm. It sloshed. "Oh, so the unaffiliated common man with no police powers needs a warrant now?"

"You're not thinking, Ascot!" Edgeworth crossed the room in two steps and loomed over the annoying man. "When we get to court, we need this evidence legally obtained and approved through the proper legal channels! If we can't prosecute whomever is behind this because of your tampering-"

"If you stay this wrapped up in your legal channels, we won't ever find who's behind this!"

Gumshoe could surely feel his heartbeat now, because Edgeworth could hear it pounding through his teeth where they were clenching together. This man, this annoying showboating man, was not about to sink his chance to find Wright and put his assailant away for life because he was above paperwork. Edgeworth dared to jab at Ascot's solar plexus with his first two fingers. "I will not-"

The metal flask popped, like popcorn. Ascot dropped it with a start. It hit the floor with a hollow, taught bounce, and when it settled, it started glowing blue.

Gumshoe nearly jumped out of his chair. "M-Mr. Edgeworth! Get away from that thing! It might blow up!"

"It won't..." Edgeworth knew it wouldn't, because he knew that exact noise and feeling from his childhood, when little squabbles with Franziska caused him to scream and cry and strike out with any nearby water.

This wasn't just any nearby water. Edgeworth bent the fluid inside the flask, lifting it off the floor and unscrewing the cap from the inside. The water he pulled out shined white in the hospital air. It electrified his hands when he reached out to touch it.

Ascot's eyes gleamed in unbridled delight. "Is that-?"

"Spirit water..." Edgeworth had only felt it once before in his life, but it was a sensation he would never forget. Gumshoe hovered over his shoulder now to get a better look.

"Isn't it illegal to bottle spirit water?"

"How did he get a hold of this?" Edgeworth thought aloud.

And thus, Ascot cut back in. "We'll never know unless we dig through his pockets now, Edgeworth. I'm surprised you'll even consider playing the by-the-book cop after those brutes impersonating police slashed your tires."

Edgeworth hesitated before saying, "We have no conclusive proof it was them."

"But we have common sense, don't we?" Ascot's accent slipped down a step into a rougher brogue before he shook his head and reset himself. "Something is on the other side of this, fighting dirty. Let me give him a look-over. If it's more nonsense, I'll put it all back; but this can't all be nonsense."

Edgeworth's gut twisted at the thought of trying to force paperwork past Belduke. He turned to Gumshoe. "Your thoughts?"

The detective snapped to attention- Edgeworth worried that maybe he had tuned out- and pondered before answering. "I mean… we could always ask the guy, couldn't we?"

It was quiet for a moment.

"Gumshoe, the man's unconscious," said Edgeworth. "How are we supposed to get informed consent?"

Ascot sighed and picked up the first things his hands fell on. "It really is easier to ask forgiveness..."

The first thing he picked up was paper, and a surprisingly thick bundle of it at that. The edges of the outer layers were singed. Ascot grabbed one little corner short, and the rest spilled out onto the sheets like a book coming unbound. Everyone picked up at least two pages and started reading.

"Professor Layton," said Gumshoe aloud. "If you are reading this, then I have met my end at the hands of the witches- he crossed it out, sir."

"Professor Layton, I write to you from my safe bunker somewhere under Republic City." Ascot frustratedly turned the paper over. "That's all? Why didn't he finish it?"

Edgeworth wondered what language Accidenti was even writing in. "Mine is squares."

"Wait, let me see." Ascot took the paper scrap. "Oh, that's why. This is a tile slider puzzle lock. See? You arrange the blocks here to make this sun symbol. The question is, where is it?"

Edgeworth picked up another page of squares and passed it to Ascot. "And this one?"

Ascot barely had to glance at it. "Another one. Switch the sun and moon to the opposite sides-"

Gumshoe pushed another one into his hands. "What about this one?"

"That's a magic triangle. All the numbers have to add up on all sides- hang on. In the margins..."

They poured over the papers for the next hour. Accidenti never woke, but his meticulously archived words (in shorthand, like Ascot) started to come together from his notes. Labyrinthia was the name of this secret underground place, and it was somehow full of lettuce and flowers. From his notes, they had a rough idea of the town's size and layout, but no concrete location. The names he had outlined, Arthur and Espella Cantabella, didn't mean much on their own, but Edgeworth quickly latched onto Newton Belduke. That could be no coincidence.

Many small, miscellaneous facts filtered through his mind, falling into little disconnected piles on top of one concrete clue: Accidenti's final mumble had been decoded, and would be thoroughly investigated after a good night's sleep.

In the depths of Labyrinthia, unseen by sleeping eyes, Layton and Wright stole through the night for a library. At the same time, Ascot parted ways from the group to return to his hotel while Edgeworth rolled the name "Labrelum" through his mind. He kept it there when Gumshoe dropped onto the bed in their shared room with a sleepy mumble about how nice the sheets were. From his own bed, Edgeworth picked up the room phone and set about with his own nightly call.

She picked up after one ring. "You are twenty minutes late, Miles Edgeworth."

"My investigations have run into a lot of interference," he admitted. "Before we begin, tell me: do you recognize the name 'Labrelum'?"

"Of course I do. They're a pharmaceuticals company. I was surrounded by their products during my hospitalization. Why?"

"I'm not in the Fire Nation tonight," he explained. "Wright and his assistant are missing."

"That sounds well outside of your jurisdiction, Miles Edgeworth. Where are you now?"

"Republic City, I'm staying in a hotel."

"You have crossed borders. This is Interpol work."

"If you can find a way to get Interpol involved, you are welcome to it. I have my suspicions that Labrelum, for whatever reason, is involved in Wright's disappearance, among others."

"Others?"

"Two others, another man and a young boy."

"You have a talent for getting in over your head."

"I am only following a case through to its natural conclusion."

"Of course you are. I will make my way to you starting in the morning. Do not do anything stupid, and stay alive."

"I will do my best. Goodnight, Franziska."

"Goodnight, Miles Edgeworth."


	4. Chapter 4

Heaven help him, he opened the door in the morning and there was Ascot. If he hadn't already had breakfast, he would have lost his appetite on the spot. He couldn't even help the "Nygoh!" that escaped from his mouth. Not a minute's reprieve!

That he was dressed well and damnably peppy was the worst part. Ascot strode right into his room with a lilting "Hello~ everyone! Saw you had a good breakfast. Excellent! We'll need one for today!"

Gumshoe grinned and waved. Edgeworth might have been properly dressed and ready for the world before breakfast, but Gumshoe was the type to go down to eat in his pajamas and an overcoat. He was only just now putting on his shoes. "Heya Mr. Asco- hey, wait, pal!" The obvious incongruity of the situation, it seemed, had finally caught up with him. "How'd you find our room?"

"I _saw_ you have a good breakfast, remember?" Ascot picked up a hotel room pen and twirled it.

Edgeworth pointed. "Stop that."

Ascot didn't listen. "When you casually go about the city wearing a cravat, there's certain standards to uphold when it comes to hotels. This one was the only one I could find that was pretentious enough to fit."

Edgeworth pointed again. "_Stop that_."

"And I just sat a few tables down from the two of you."

Gumshoe showed an alarming lack of awareness for Edgeworth's finger. "Wait, you saw me pourin' over the phone book?"

Ascot gasped. "I didn't know it was a phone book! What did you find?"

Gumshoe puffed up with pride. "I found Labrelum!"

Ascot nearly squealed. "_I _found Labrelum! 814 South-"

"-Aqueduct Avenue!" Gumshoe finished along with him. "Yeah! We can look into it together!"

"Just a moment, Gumshoe, my good man, because I popped onto something else!" His voice dipped into a low, conspiratorial whisper. "I might have found the Belduke household."

Gumshoe gasped this time. "No way!"

"Oh it was a _pain_\- there's seventeen Beldukes in the phone book, but there's only one within a reasonable drive to the Labrelum offices, you know? And sat just on the edges of the posh part of the city before the housing bubble burst- anyway, there's two leads worth following now! Edgeworth! Your take?"

He had been using the extra time to finish his morning routine, listening with half an ear. Now the attention had shifted back to him, Edgeworth put down his comb and gave the new information some thought. "Hmm… I suppose, considering our limited time frame, our best course of action would be to pursue both leads at once. I believe I will go to the private residence."

"I can agree with that," said Gumshoe. "I ain't really built for anything 'posh', after all."

"Don't belittle yourself!" Ascot scolded with a little punch to Gumshoe's arm. "you'd look damn dapper in a good suit."

Edgeworth had trouble even imagining Gumshoe and "dapper" in ths same sentence. This conversation was getting off topic. "All right: Gumshoe, Ascot, I will be off and see you both later."

Ascot bounced on his toes. "Well I'm coming with you, obviously."

"Nyg-"

"An office is an office is an office, Edgeworth! But a house that holds hints towards a secret underground complex; now that's a mystery worth solving!"

He'd never personally been great with children. He found their obtuse yet absolute logic hard to deal with and rather inscrutable. How did one reason with the unreasonable? Or deny those who refused to be denied?

He didn't have an answer, and that is what sent him and Ascot down a clean and new commuter line trolley while Gumshoe boarded a bus heading the opposite way. Ascot grinned and kicked his feat out from his seat like a happy schoolboy. Public transportation… what a day.

Meanwhile, Gumshoe took a long breath and settled his hand into a ceiling strap. Finally, a little bit of normalcy in this crazy couple of days. No frettin' about Wright, no slashed tires, no scary ladies, no crazy guys… Just him taking the bus to talk to somebody. That, he could do all day, and easily! And he'd do it right, too, for Mr. Edgeworth. The drive went by like nothing, and he walked right into the lobby of the Labrelum building, big ol' logo on the wall behind the front desk, and smiled at the bored-looking receptionist.

"Heya, there!" he said. "My name's Gumshoe! What's yours?"

As a trial rolled into motion underground, the three above found themselves at odd crossroads of quiet investigations, clues, and secret dealings that occupied their next few days...

* * *

Postscript: So if you're not aware, this fic is a late-requested "sequel" that's made of material I cut from the main fanfic, "The Earth King Has Invited You To Labyrinthia". I didn't save a lot of the original ideas, so I'm just trying to dredge them up as I go... or I never made them before I decided to cut them, like now.

I'll pick back up at a later part in the story, so don't worry! This fic isn't dying, I don't think. It's just not very meaty compared to the main course.


	5. Chapter 5

Remember: this is only a companion piece. The main story is "The Earth King Has Invited You to Labyrinthia."

* * *

He'd broken into a house. He'd found clear, decisive evidence that Phoenix Wright had been kidnapped and was being held hostage. He'd been attacked by masked men in black. He had commandeered a police boat without official permission. He had pulled the victim of an attempted murder out of the pitch black waters of night in the middle of a storm in said commandeered police boat, and on top of everything else, he was being chased by the police trying to retake their boat.

Edgeworth didn't particularly care to ask permission to enter Inspector Chelmey's office. He barely remembered the sprint to it, other than he had to waterbend quite a few boats out of the way in the canals (including what might have, ironically, been Wright's cruise boat, but he didn't think to double-check). Rather, he found it very pertinent in the moment to bash the precinct's door open with a column of water, thank you very much, and to bend a wall of ice in their way when they tried to run after him. After that, it was just a matter of following Gumshoe and the young man he was dragging straight to Chelmey's office. "WE FOUND WRIGHT!"

He supposed he should have said that with more dignity, though, as Chelmey seemed to be using his late shift to entertain Franziska von Karma: Interpol agent, prosecutor, and Edgeworth's stepsister. Chelmey jumped to his feet, upsetting right a few manila folders and empty teacups onto the floor. "Hold on there! What are you doing-"

"I told you! It's Wright!" Edgeworth shouted without mind for eloquence. "The Labrelum man has him! Cantabella!"

Ascot bellowed after him, "And he's got Layton! And Luke!"

The red-haired man gasped. "Yes- all of them! I know where they are, we just have to get out into the bay!"

"What the devil are you going on about?!" Chelmey roared. "And why are you all wet?!"

Franziska sipped at her cup of tea. "He is like this sometimes. Let me whip him a few times, to reset his mind."

"I don't have time for this Franziska, we were all attacked tonight!"

"Yeah!" Gumshoe added. "By big black machines and guys in masks, pal! They were tryin' to kill us!"

"Black machines? Wha-" Chelmey tripped trying to leave his chair and stumbled into his bookcase. "And what's all that ruckus outside?"

Ascot beat him to the punch, and answered with a smile that Edgeworth found offensively big. "Edgeworth tore down your door!"

Franziska started laughing.

Edgeworth wanted to tear out his hair. "This isn't funny! Wright's life could be in danger! We nearly found this man drowned in the harbor!"

The red-haired young man (to Ascot's red-haired older man) nearly choked on his own words. "Th-that's right! The house- we go through the basement, then I need to bend you through the tunnels-"

The door behind Edgeworth flew open directly into his spine, nearly sending Edgeworth sprawling into Gumshoe's broad back. P.C. Barton fell into the room through the open door, but he wasn't the one who had jammed it between Edgeworth's individual ribs, no; that honor belonged to a blonde, bespectacled man who squirmed in after Barton. "Now hold on! Hold everything! I am Defense Attorney Flynch, and I demand that you not say a word, Mr. Zach Barnham!"

'Mr. Zach Barnham' looked at 'Defense Attorney Flynch' like he'd grown a second head. "Who are you?!"

"Your defense att-"

"No you're not! Go away!"

Franziska ran out of breath from laughing.

"Miss Von Karma, it ain't funny!" Gumshoe wailed. "This guy almost drowned!"

"And that is another very good point!" said Flynch. Officers flanked him in the doorway, all reaching and grabbing into the room, catching Ascot and Edgeworth by their sleeves and pulling. "I should bring you to a hospital immediately, Mr. Barnham, and then back to the asylum with you-"

Through the din and the shuffling, a bell rang out.

Flynch and over half of the officers immediately collapsed in dead faints. Standing at the back of the lot, holding a silver bell on a string, was Carmine Accidenti.

Franziska stopped laughing.

"Er-" Ascot waffled in the door, shifting his weight between Edgeworth, Accidenti, and the safe area of Chelmey's desk. "Carmine… looking well."

Between Chelmey's stuttering lack of words, Ascot and Gumshoe's wide-eyed silence, and Franziska's rare moment of utter dumbfounding, Edgeworth figured it was his turn to speak… and could summon nothing. "Er… verily…"

Accidenti could have looked better. His arms were still heavily wrapped under his long coat, and he walked with the aid of a crutch, but his face had been fully healed and seemed awake and aware. He put the bell away in his pocket. "The men asleep before you are all agents of Arthur Cantabella, the head of Labrelum Incorporated."

The red-haired man remembered himself. "Y-yes, that's true! I-I'm trying to warn them but there's so much-"

Accidenti continued. "You will find him, and several years worth of missing and kidnapped peoples, in a secret underground village located under the tower built in central Yue Bay."

Chelmey said, "What?"

"They are all mind-controlled with the influence of spirit water-"

Gumshoe balked, "Wait-"

"-into thinking it is the 100 Years War-"

Franziska began unspooling her whip. Edgeworth shot her a glare.

"-and regularly have their memories blocked to confuse them-"

The red haired man went pale. "Regularly?"

"- and can only brought out of their state by the sound of a silver bell."

Finally, Ascot roared. "WHAT?! Oh that's not _fair_! How were we supposed to figure all of that out on our own?!"

Chelmey sat down hard in his chair. "Somebody slipped me something in my tea, I know it."

"Oh, no, sir," Barton piped up. "Else they slipped me it too. I'm hearin' all this same as you."

"You were never meant to discover any of this," Accidenti explained. "I only know of it because Cantabella's daughter found me in her attempt to escape the place, and brought me back to rescue her aunt. In my attempt to break my discoveries out to the public, I was captured, and put under the same heinous influence as these imposter officers..."

"Wait, imposters?!" Chelmey stood up again, taking a close look at their faces. "… by Jove you're right! None of these are my boys! They're are all Belduke's!"

Franziska, hands teasing on her whip but not moving out of her chair, spoke up. "Miles Edgeworth, why do none of your cases ever make any kind of sense?!"

"I-it's not me!" Edgeworth snapped back. "I-it's all Wright's influence, I know it!"

"You've given me a tall order in the middle of the night!" Chelmey shook in his seat. "You're telling me there's an entire town's worth of people being illegally held underground?!"

Accidenti nodded. "Underground and underwater."

The red haired man nodded. "It's true- I just escaped from there! Cantabella has Wright and Layton, and he's going to wipe the memories from their heads to try and prevent them from escaping!"

Ascot wailed. Gumshoe- bless him- cut in. "B-but you remember! You're telling us now!"

"It- right! Yes!" The red haired man shook himself. "My name_ is_ Zach Barnham, and I remembered everything when I saw the city skyline. It's not hopeless- we can still rescue them, but I don't know what they're doing to them now! We have to hurry!"

Accidenti braced himself on his crutch. "Yes, we must! We can go through Cantabella's tower-"

Ascot whimpered. "But we can't! We were just in there-"

Chelmey nearly interjected before Edgeworth swiftly cut them both off. "Cantabella has guards and machinery all throughout his house, it can't be raided so easily."

"How were you in-"

Then Franziska cut Chelmey off. "We will accomplish nothing with this raucous assembly of foolish fools. I am officially taking charge of this investigation by my authority with Interpol-"

Gumshoe sighed so heavily it rattled the concrete floor. "Please do."

"Inspector Chelmey!" Franziska stood to full height. "I want all of your men checked by Mr. Accidenti-"

Accidenti straightened up himself. "_Detective_ Accidenti."

"-and then you will gather a task force of your most capable officers. All of us will assemble within an hour with a plan to infiltrate this secret place and rescue the trapped peoples inside. Miles Edgeworth, you are now directly under me."

_When am I not?_ Edgeworth allowed himself mentally. _In your mind, anyway._

Flynch sat up from the floor with a pained groan. "Where am I… why am I- am I under arrest again?! Cantabella promised this wouldn't happen anymore!"

Today was exhausting… Edgeworth was only just keeping from shivering by willpower and a sense of closure. Wright was so close, he could almost feel it. This was almost over...


	6. Chapter 6

They had their rest. They filled out their reports. It was time for things to return to normal, and Edgeworth made this intent very clear.

"Wright, this has been one of the worst, most hectic weeks of my life. I insist you allow me to buy you breakfast."

Wright, perplexed as usual, raked at his hair. "What- that doesn't make any sense. Why do you want to buy me breakfast?"

Edgeworth answered with candor. "To restore the order of the universe."

Indeed, everything had been… various varieties of awful over the last few days. The uncovering of the hidden city under Yue Bay was perhaps the most permissably fantastical, but then Wright had kissed a stranger in front of him, and the blatant display dropped him back into the realm of utter discomfort. Not that he bore any ill will towards the man, it was simply a matter of his lack of tolerance for romantic overtures. The offer to buy Wright breakfast, one of the more normal of their interactions, would be a welcome return to the status quo.

It would have been much easier if everyone else wasn't also there raining on the normalcy.

"Why are you arguing, Nick?!" Maya Fey shouted. "There's an unlimited omelette bar!"

"And I'd really like a waffle, Mr. Phoenix!" said the little boy who'd come with the professor. "And also the omelette bar!"

"Oo!" hooted Maya Fey. "What if we asked them to put the waffle inside the omelette?"

"Wow!" said Gumshoe. "These kids got some brains between 'em. You think they want me to cut up the waffle first, or should they do it?"

Edgeworth suffered.

All in all, it was the best they were going to manage in the crowded hotel restaurant. They were already an unsightly bunch, with Wright and his clan's attire being far too casual for the venue. Ascot didn't help things by clinging to the professor and refusing to let go. And the way he fawned over the man was enough to make him vicariously embarrassed all over again. Why couldn't Ascot have kissed the stranger instead of Wright, and then Edgeworth could have stayed detached from the whole thing? The only saving grace seemed to be that the professor was even more embarrassed than he was.

"And that was it?!" Ascot whined. "That was _it,_ just a kiss and nothing before? You're holding out on me, I know it, you're hiding your eyes! This is the most romantic thing I've ever seen you do, Hershel! You and Phoenix had to get up to _something_!"

The professor was impressively red under his large hat. "Randall, even if we did, _I would not discuss it with you over breakfast._"

Ascot slumped against him, nearly falling out of his chair to do so. "I would."

Maya Fey piped up through a mouthful of blintz. "So would I!"

Wright shot her a look. "You don't even like people that way."

"I know!" That's why I'd do it," she explained. "It'd be super easy. 'I didn't do anything!'"

Ascot shook the professor by his shoulders while the little boy laughed. "Hershel, I demand you marry this man so I can keep her as a niece-in-law!"

The professor chided. "_We are not related!_"

Wright gestured back and forth between him and Maya Fey. "_We're_ not related! Niece-in-law? Do I look old enough to be her father?!"

Gumshoe finally stopped eating long enough to comment. "I dunno, you are wearing a button shirt tucked into khaki pants."

Wright spluttered. "I believe in dressing well on vacations, damn it! So sue me!"

"Ha!" laughed the little boy. "I get it! Because you're a lawyer!"

"I- uh- yes!" Wright put his hands to his hips. "Totally! I am very clever."

"Objection!" said Maya Fey. "It's obvious the professor got all the brains in this family."

Now the professor was spluttering. "I've kissed him! _Do not imply that we're related!_"

"Whatcha gonna do," sassed Maya Fey, "Hold me in contempt of court?"

Wright glowered. "I'm going to hold you in contempt of _me_, how does that sound?"

Edgeworth could hear Franziska laughing at them from the neighboring table, along with Carmine Accidenti and Inspector Chelmey. The boy was laughing so hard his elbow fell into his orange juice. The professor was so red it looked painful. Wright raked his hand over his eyes, and his gaze settled on Edgeworth, and he smiled again.

"Oh man… It feels good to be back in the real world."

Edgeworth pulled himself back from the chaos around him. "This hardly seems real to me."

"Eh, true." Wright grinned. "But I have you back! Maybe after this settles, things will get back to normal."

"This hardly seems normal, either." Edgeworth cast his eyes around the table, which Wright followed by instinct. It was easy to take everything in; the volume, the amount of children, the new interplay between Wright and this man he had kissed, along with the annoying red-haired man who had folded his way into Edgeworth's inner circle.

Wright shrugged. "Yeah, I… wasn't expecting to come out of this vacation with this much story and a boyfriend, but-" He paused to let Ascot wail in delight and the professor hide his face in a napkin. "We all just need a little more time to get back in the routine."

Finally, Edgeworth could smile. "Start by calling me tonight."

Wright grinned right back. "I'll tell you everything I know about Hershel, so the next time we meet up, you'll know what to talk about."

Wright was always so alarmingly soothing, or at least he knew exactly what smoothed over Edgeworth's ruffled edges. Perhaps now this stranger wouldn't be so strange, and if his interactions with Ascot were anything to go by, they could at least find common ground in how annoying he could be. Edgeworth looked forward to the future, and calculated in his mind what exactly could, versus what should, be added to an omelette.


End file.
